Complex-argument universal nonlinear cell for rapid prototyping

The development of generic cells to perform linear and nonlinear arithmetic is critical to cost-effective rapid prototyping. Our LARP architecture deploys generic cells, thereby offering the capability of mapping a wide variety of signal and image processing algorithms on to the same pool of resources. This paper presents a further advance in this direction. Specifically, it reports on the development of a complex-argument nonlinear universal cell, which achieves both high speed and high accuracy. To accomplish this, low-degree MIP polynomials are used, as explained in the paper. Four specific functions, namely the reciprocal, absolute value, logarithm, and the square-root, are considered, but the procedure is extendible to other functions as well. A 24and a 16-b chip are described. Finally, their application to an antenna array processor is presented which is amenable to large-area-device implementation.